Who doesn’t like to enjoy a nice warm fire when celebrating the holidays? Whether it is just yourself and your immediate family members at home, or you are having some guests over to celebrate over dinner, a good fire in the fireplace makes the mood that much nicer and warmer.
With that said, we want to make sure that nothing goes wrong while you are enjoying yourselves or after the festivities are over. There are several things that you should know to do in order to keep your home safe when it comes to your fireplace and chimney use. Using these tips, you should be able to enjoy a safe and warm season without worrying about trouble from your fireplace.
5 Ways to Ensure Your Safety When Dealing With Your Fireplace
No one wants their family dinner interrupted by smoke coming into the house rather than going out of it. This and other problems with your fireplace and chimney can be avoided though with tips like these:
- Have a professional inspect your fireplace and chimney before kicking things off. The first thing you should always do before getting a fire going is to have a professional technician inspect your fireplace and chimney. They can clean out built-up creosote from last season and they can identify issues in your chimney that will require chimney repair in Minneapolis, MN, such as a cracked flue.
- Double-check that your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are working well. If something does go wrong with your chimney (say the damper is pushing smoke into your house rather than out of it) you don’t want to be caught unaware. Carbon monoxide detectors and smoke detectors are your best line of defense in these cases. Make sure to check that your detectors have good batteries and are working well.
- Dispose of ashes from a wood-burning fire carefully. If you have a wood-burning fireplace, make sure to dispose of ashes carefully. The last thing anyone wants is to have the carpet light up because of a stray fleck of hot ash. You don’t want your trashbin to light up either!
- No disposing of the tree in the fireplace. We can’t tell you how many people have tried to dispose of their Christmas tree or other holiday greenery in the fireplace and rapidly discovered that it is a really bad idea. Trust us when we say that you shouldn’t burn anything other than seasoned, dry wood in your fireplace. No one needs to have sap or pine needles sparking and creating a fire hazard in their home.
- Be careful to keep wrapped gifts away from the fireplace. Wrapping paper, gift bags, tissue paper, and other holiday gift garb should be kept far away from the fireplace too. The adhesives in a lot of tape and glue are highly flammable as are many of the types of tissue paper and wrapping paper.
With these tips you can enjoy a warm, cozy holiday season without any of the stress caused by fireplace or chimney trouble. Make sure you reach out to us for your chimney services as well to ensure you are preparing for the holidays right.
Contact 2nd Generation Chimneys, Inc. to schedule an appointment for an inspection and/or repairs.